MMA Personalities News - Page 8

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Conor McGregor is coming to the big screen.
On Thursday, the full trailer for McGregor’s documentary film was released online. The UFC lightweight champion tweeted about it, writing that the movie will be coming to theaters in November.

When Anthony Johnson tapped out to Daniel Cormier at UFC 210 earlier this year, it was supposed to be his final act in the cage. After coming up short for a second time against Cormier, Johnson announced a shocking retirement from the sport to venture into the marijuana business. But earlier this week, Johnson’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that “Rumble,” was already contemplating a return to fighting, and that doesn’t sit right with his most recent opponent.
On the most recent edition of his podcast Talk & Talker, Cormier spoke out about Johnson’s short-lived retirement, saying that it seems Johnson was just bitter about losing to him for a second time.

The UFC’s return to Poland later this month for UFC Fight Night 118 has taken a hit to one of its featured bouts.
Teemu Packalen (8-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) is out of his lightweight fight against Marcin Held (22-7 MMA, 0-3 UFC) after suffering a knee injury that required surgery.

Just four months after incurring a serious injury in a crash that could have been deadly, Matt Hughes was standing up, walking around and laughing with friends and family.
Hughes, the UFC Hall of Famer, returned to HSHS St. John’s Hospital on Tuesday to honor the two nurses who treated him immediately after his truck-train crash in June, per a release sent out by the hospital. Hughes attended the event with his wife Audra and daughters Hanna and Katelyn.

MMA fighters have quite frequently used Tom Petty’s catalog as walkout music, so when the music icon passed away late Monday, the news struck close to home for many competitors.
Petty, 66, died after suffering cardiac arrest, ending a life and music career that had a global impact. When it comes to MMA, Petty’s music is perhaps best associated with former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who famously walks out to “I Won’t Back Down.”
Petty’s music clearly had an influence on others, though, including Jon Fitch (30-7-1). The current PFL welterweight champion and former UFC welterweight title challenger apparently has some music talent in his back pocket, and after Petty’s passing, he honored him with a rendition of “Learning to Fly.”

For MMA fighters, getting praise from Conor McGregor is a pretty rare phenomenon, but in Glasgow on Friday night the Irishman heaped praise on UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway.
Although he first announced that he “sonned” the Hawaiian when they fought back in 2014, the SBG fighter went on to praise how he reacted to the decision loss at the TD Garden, in what was only McGregor’s second outing with the UFC.

The UFC continues to struggle with their women's featherweight champion Cris Cyborg.
The relationship between the two has never been great, with the promotion signing Cris back in 2015 on a unique contract that kept her fighting for female promotion Invicta FC while they tried to pressure her into cutting down to 135 pounds for a showdown with Ronda Rousey. Over the next two years, Cyborg regularly complained about poor treatment from the promotion (real and imagined) so I suppose it should be no surprise they're butting heads again.

Anthony Johnson’s time in retirement might be short.
Johnson’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that “Rumble,” known for his devastating knockout power, is planning a potential comeback and they will be meeting with UFC president Dana White this week to discuss it.

UFC middleweight Rafael Natal hung up his gloves.
The Brazilian fighter, who competed inside the Octagon 17 times over the last seven years, announced on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he has decided to retire from his mixed martial arts career.

Alistair Overeem’s career renaissance could lead him to another UFC title shot.
“The Reem” told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he has been told he’ll receive a heavyweight title opportunity if he beats Francis Ngannou at UFC 218 on Dec. 2 in Detroit.

UFC strawweight and perpetually upbeat Alexa Grasso is on the mend following a recent knee surgery.
According to Grasso, an MRI revealed a “damaged” meniscus.
Here’s a full translation provided by MMAjunkie:

Max Holloway really wants a rematch with fellow UFC champ Conor McGregor – and he can’t understand why his former opponent seems uninterested.
In fact, Holloway (18-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC), who’s won 11 straight fights and claimed the featherweight belt since a 2013 loss to current lightweight titleholder McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC), pointed to LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors to make his point.
Holloway, who awaits his next assignment after scoring a TKO win over Jose Aldo and unifying the belts in his most recent performance, seems a bit perturbed about McGregor still claiming himself as the true king of 145 pounds.
He’s not ruling out a move up in weight of his own to get that long-awaited rematch with “The Notorious.”

Some of the UFC’s biggest stars, including Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Ronda Rousey, have been on the air with Conan O’Brien. Now it’s Michael Bisping’s turn
Bisping will appear on “Conan” on Wednesday night. O’Brien this past year was revealed to be one of many new celebrities who purchased an investment stake in the UFC after it was sold to WME-IMG.

“Big Rigg” is trucking on down to Albuquerque.
On Sunday, sources confirmed to Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting that Johny Hendricks will be working with the Jackson-Wink camp in New Mexico ahead of his upcoming middleweight bout against Paulo Borrachinha at UFC 217 on Nov. 11.

Fresh off his first stoppage win at welterweight, Rafael dos Anjos wants no business with fighters ranked below him.
The former UFC lightweight champion needed less than four minutes to submit Neil Magny at UFC 215. Now saying he’s “better adapted to the division,” dos Anjos is expecting a shot at the champion Tyron Woodley next, and that’s why he’s not interested in fighters like Kamaru Usman.

Earlier this year, during a mid-spring episode of The MMA Hour, UFC lightweight contender Kevin Lee let his opinion be known about Mickey Gall. To put it lightly, Lee wasn’t a fan of the media push Mickey Gall was receiving from his early Octagon wins over CM Punk and Sage Northcutt, and he felt that push would be better served on other fighters who had put in the time.
As it turns out, Gall heard Lee’s criticisms loud and clear.
On Monday, nearly six months after the initial shots were fired, Gall issued his response, effectively challenging Lee to put his money where his mouth was.

Rory MacDonald gave a four-word answer last month when he was asked on a Reddit AMA if he thinks Robbie Lawler was on performance-enhancing drugs when the two met at UFC 189 for the UFC welterweight title in 2015.
“I’m convinced he was,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald explained that conclusion in an interview with MMA Fighting on Tuesday. MacDonald, who now fights for Bellator MMA, said he believes the way in which Lawler pushed through in the all-time classic battle was unnatural. Lawler won the fight by fifth-round TKO in a bout in which MacDonald was ahead on the scorecards.

Lyoto Machida will return to the Octagon for the first time in over two years on Oct. 28.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion was suspended by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after disclosing his usage of a product containing the banned substance 7-keto-dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) during a sample collection in April 2016.
Machida always insisted that he didn’t know DHEA was a banned substance, but it didn’t matter. He still spent 18 months out of the game due to USADA.
Now weeks away from returning to action in the main event of UFC Sao Paulo opposite middleweight talent Derek Brunson, “The Dragon” gave MMA Fighting a long answer when asked about what the positives and negatives of being away for so long during his suspension.

Although he alluded to all types of scenarios in terms of his next challenge, Conor McGregor seems determined to defend his lightweight title rather than contest another “money fight” the next time we see him in action.